FLIGHT FRIGHT: CEO Jay Brown may see the liquidity of his struggling MBIA dwindle to zero before his suit with Bank of America is resolved.Post photo composite

FLIGHT FRIGHT: CEO Jay Brown may see the liquidity of his struggling MBIA dwindle to zero before his suit with Bank of America is resolved. (Post photo composite)

MBIA boss Jay Brown is running out of time to clean up his mortgage mess.

The struggling bond insurer — which guaranteed billions in mortgage-backed securities that Wall Street peddled to investors before the housing bubble burst — has only about four months before it runs out of cash, The Post has learned.

Brown is waging a risky gambit that the Armonk, NY, company can avert a looming cash crunch by cutting deals to claw back billions from his former clients at the big banks.

If he fails to get the cash flowing again, state regulators will likely step in before the four months are up and seize MBIA’s unit that insures mortgage securities

Brown has unleashed a flurry of lawsuits against nearly a dozen firms, accusing them of duping the insurer into backing mortgage bonds that the banks knew were junk.

The bond insurer — which blames the banks for saddling it with $5.1 billion in losses — has told regulators it expects to collect $3.6 billion from post-crisis claims against Bank of America, Ally Financial’s ResCap and Credit Suisse.

In particular, MBIA is counting on a settlement with BofA’s Countrywide subprime unit. To reach its $3.6 billion goal, MBIA would need to collect $3 billion from BofA — roughly the full amount of its claims against the bank.

But BofA wants to settle for closer to $1 billion, a source said. It has settled with other insurers for around $14 billion, an average of 25 cents on the dollar.

MBIA President Chuck Chaplin told investors during a Feb. 28 earnings call that while there was serious doubt about MBIA Insurance unit surviving as a going concern, “We believe that the most likely outcome is a settlement ahead of regulatory intervention.”

However, sources close to the situation say MBIA and BofA, run by CEO Brian Moynihan, remain far apart on a settlement. The same holds true for Ally’s bankrupt ResCap unit, said one source.

An MBIA spokesperson said the company would not comment on settlement discussions or its liquidity position.

After the credit crisis in 2009, MBIA received permission from state regulators to split in two. The breakup created a “good” business that insures muni bonds and a “bad” one that deals with mortgage-backed securities and financial products.

In the event of a liquidity crisis, the New York State Department of Financial Services would likely seize only the “bad” side of the business, MBIA Insurance.

Not surprisingly, the breakup infuriated MBIA’s bank clients, who saw it as a way for it to wriggle out of paying claims on mortgage-backed securities.

BofA has challenged the split in court, claiming it represents an illegal shifting of assets, or “fraudulent conveyance.”

“MBIA seems determined to avoid all responsibility for its financial position and for the insurance policies it sold,” a BofA spokesperson said.

“We have settled legacy matters with reasonable counter parties, including other monoline insurers. We are also committed to defending claims by counter parties seeking to avoid the risks they knowingly and willingly assumed.”

ResCap has struggled to reach a restructuring agreement with its many factions, and this month received a court extension until May 31 to present a new plan.